My Soul for You
by SkullFaerie
Summary: RR. Alto/Sheryl. If you become the wind, I want to become the endless sky.


This round-robin was inspired by this picture, (http: //i22. Photobucket .com /albums /b301 /steshin /ARUSHERI /090301 .jpg) and by this song, (http: // www. Youtube .com /watch?v= 7P0w7PHUr-8). To view and listen, simply copy-paste to your URL thingy and delete spaces.

**Contributed by: arcangelus, emochinchilla, forgottendiary, paperanmitsu, steshin, turtledork, vivitoru**

**MY SOUL FOR YOU**

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* * *

**It was early in the morning. Too early, to be getting up. Very early to be awake...

But Saotome Alto didn't care.

Thinking that Sheryl was still asleep, he quietly tiptoed out of their room. He had hid his SMS uniform discreetly in a large cardboard box, labeled "cookies", inside the oven just a few hours before. Sheryl never uses the oven in her cooking endeavors.  
She was the type of person that could set water on fire— she would never touch the oven.  
He groped around the kitchen, afraid to turn on the lights lest the fairy wakes up. The digital clock on the stove read 4:07 AM, the only source of light for the hime's shaking hands.  
_Good_. He has about half an hour to iron his uniform, put it on, and write his wife a note, and leave - all before she wakes up.  
He didn't want to leave his own house like a thief. Alto especially didn't like to trick Sheryl, but he couldn't bear to see her heartbroken in front of him.

Yes, despite being promoted about twelve ranks since he joined the army, Saotome Alto admits that he is a coward at heart.

He didn't like this mission he was assigned to. Sheryl never said anything, but he could see through her large, trembling eyes that she was every inch against it. _Don't go for this one_, her eyes seemed to say to him. He wished he could just say no to his commander. It wasn't even about military obedience. Yes, Frontier has successfully, landed, but the small colony must still be protected.  
Lately, there had just been too many "accidents" from outer space to call their planet safe. It was his duty as a soldier to protect everyone, his friends, Sheryl, and their...wait..._where was the box?_

The kitchen lights switched on.  
From his crouching position, he could see all the way across the kitchen, into the living room.  
Hanging on a chair, was his uniform, pristinely ironed. Beside it, his helmet.

"Alto...." Sheryl whispered, her hands hugging her belly, her eyes..._teary? _

"You're son wants to say goodbye to you too."

Alto instinctively eyed the small bulge of his wife's abdomen and his lips lifted into a humorless smile.

"It could be a daughter you know," he whispered thoughtfully.

Sheryl sniffled in response. "Why do you have to go?" She whispered, looking downward. With a thoughtful gaze, Alto padded over to her position. Facing her, he cupped her face gently, looking into her gaze.

"You know I'm doing this for you especially...if I don't do this it'll only be a matter of time until what's causing all these accidents knocks on our doorstep," He murmured to her, pulling her head into his chest as he stood up.

"Besides, it's just an early morning deep-space patrol with the rest of the squad. Maruyama'll get blown up and almost die again before he lets anything happen to 'Sheryl-sama's pet', as he puts it," He joked weakly.

His hand reached towards his uniform, slowly and carefully, as if any sudden movement would set her off. He had almost managed to reach it when she spoke in a voice that was childish, and petulant, "Then I want to go to."

It took a few moments before her words registered in his psyche, his hand hanging in mid-air.  
He was about to say something in protest but instead, he held his words and took a deep breath. He knew best when not to retaliate.

"Sheryl," he spoke in a low, almost whispery voice as he drew his face close to hers, their foreheads meeting. "I have to protect you--the both of you. I'll be back, I promise. Don't I always?"

"_Baka_, Alto...who's going to protect you?"

Her eyes were piercing his' intently, anticipating an honest answer to her honest question. And that's precisely the reason why Alto chose not to say anything, opting instead to weave his fingers into her wavy hair as an act of bringing her even closer to him.

He was the sort of person who could never say things without a little reassurance of fact. He couldn't bring himself to tell her things he knew were lies.  
On the battlefield, there was only him. And he was used to the risks that it involved, for the most part.

"I'll come home. For you. For the two of you." He repeated to highlight the fact, "It doesn't matter what happens. I'll come home."

Sheryl clenched her fists in frustration. She wanted to scream at him.  
_No, I don't want you to come back in seventeen pieces. I dont want to have to raise the child myself, without you!_  
But no. She chose to stay silent.

Slowly, with a hint of reluctance, Sheryl started to pull her husband's shirt.  
"Better get changed quickly...you don't have much time." She tried to sound like she wasn't worried at all. After taking off his shirt, she reached for his light blue undershirt, the one he always wore under his SMS jacket, but Alto grabbed her wrists and stilled her.  
She bowed her head to hide the incoming tears. This was too much, his warmth, his smell, his touch. She's couldn't live one day without him. And now...this week long (if nothing drastic happened) outer space patrol?

Alto pulled her head into his chest as she broke down, weeping silently. He couldn't do anything but stroke her hair slowly and hold her against him as she wept into his bare chest.

"Sheryl..." He whispered soothingly as he caressed her pink tresses.

_Stop it, stop it,_ Sheryl's mind supplied. But just like that time when she was up on stage, her tears wouldn't cease. Perhaps it was because these were the tears she didn't shed every time Alto had to leave.

There, in his arms she wondered.

_When did Sheryl Nome learn how to hold back? When did Sheryl Nome learn how to doubt? When did Sheryl Nome learn how to fear?_

Both of them stayed silent for a while before the pilot hesitantly crouched down to eye-level with their unborn child, his hand still lingering on his wife's belly.

In guise of response to his father's affectionate gestures, Sheryl felt the familiar fluttering feeling caused by the baby's movements.

"You better keep that promise or else...!"

Alto raised an eyebrow as he looked up at his wife smirking through her tear-filled eyes.

"Your son's answer…"

He let out a small laugh upon hearing this while hiding his eyes with his free hand.

"_Geez_, already taking after his mother..."

"...So you agree it's a boy?"

"Doesn't matter. Knowing you, you could probably will it a boy."

She chuckled at that. Outside, the soft glow of early sun began to peek in from the windows. It didn't take long for Alto to get dressed, though it took some time for Sheryl to do his hair. _Too many knots_—so she said, but Alto knew better. She was deliberately stalling him, but he didn't mind. After eating the breakfast Sheryl hastily prepared for him (cereal and milk), he was ready to go.

She walked him to the front door. The doorway framed the picture of the outside. The residential houses lined up neatly in front of theirs. Forgotten laundry hung on clotheslines and automated sprinklers did their timely duty. The scent of wet grass and rich loam entered their home. Alto closed his eyes and relished it. He breathed in everything with a hunger that he knew would not be satisfied until he returned home again.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes. He adjusted the helmet he held under his right arm and smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle on his pants. He then turned to her.

The tears were brimming in her eyes.

With a smile, Alto took her in his arms, Sheryl's arms snaked around his neck. He inhaled her fragrance in their locked embrace, and noted how it was so much better than anything else in this new world, and so much better than anything outside it.

Reluctantly, after some time, Alto let go of her. Looking into her face, he saw a couple of tears leak, starting a path down her cheek. Without saying anything, he kissed the top of her head. Sheryl responded to the loving gesture with a soft sob.

"I'll come back." It was spoken in a whisper, and in that whisper was all the promises in the world.

He brushed another kiss to her lips before finally setting off. He was starting on the pathway when he heard it then—Sheryl singing. Softly, dazedly, with a certain dreamlike tone, her voice sounded hopeful, melancholy and rough with emotion as the lyrics poured out from her. It was a Basara song.

_If you become the wind, I want to become the endless sky…_

_When you're petrified by the sound of the violent rain_

_Strumming my guitar, I'll calm your heart_

Alto stilled in his steps and listened to the next set of lyrics. Her song skipped the first chorus.

_If you lose your way, I'll light the darkness with my smile_

_If it would heal your sadness_

_I'd sing until my voice withered away…_

He turned around.

She stood there on the stoop, her hands lovingly stroking her womb. Her face was schooled with an unreadable expression.

For a long time, there was only silence.

Alto suddenly broke into a smile. With ease he transferred his helmet to his left.

With his right hand, he saluted her—and mouthed four words to her that gained him a smile that would scorch his mind for the next few days in space.

"_My soul for you_."

-

_Owari._


End file.
